Tuesday, October 30, 2012

After sixteen years of growl, music lovers can't help but think of Dropkick Murphys when someone mentions Boston. The band with equal parts swagger and bagpipes is as much a part of the fabric of Beantown as the brownstones that dominate the city. Despite the Murphys' undying love for the Red Sox, St. Louis welcomes the band tomorrow, October 31 for a special Halloween show at the Pageant.

In his Bah-stun accent, drummer Matt Kelly recently chatted with us about crazy Europeans and the benefits of inking Dropkick allegiance on your arm. We also may or may not have ragged on the Cubs a little.

Allison Babka: Sometimes I have a hard time describing the Dropkick sound to newbies. "Celtic punk" doesn't quite seem to cover it, you know? How would you describe what you play?

Signed and Sealed in Bloodcomes out Jan. 8. What's up with the name? Have you been watching Dexter too much?

Ha! I don't have cable! The title comes from lyrics from "Rose Tattoo." It'll be the first single and, I think, the fourth track on the album.

What can we expect from the new album?

We're really psyched! We've been playing the new songs at our live shows since June, and the reaction from fans has been unprecedented. You know, [people] might have heard six songs live and now don't want to wait for whole album. We're just wicked psyched. This one is full of big anthems again. Our last studio album [Going out in Style] was more of a concept album, but this one is loud, straight-up Dropkick.

Tell me about this tattoo deal. If fans tattoo some Dropkick love onto themselves and send you a photo, they might be included in the new album art?

Well, we've encouraged photos and video of tattoos if fans were going to get Dropkick tattoos anyway, and we'll use them in the artwork. We've received some really good stuff! This truly will be a public record. It's a huge honor that someone would enjoy what we do enough to tattoo themselves. I've only seen about ten to fifteen of the submissions so far, but I've been really impressed. It just means so much that a tattoo ties the album to fans and is special to them.

You'll be playing St. Louis on Halloween. Will you be in costume?

[Laughs] One of us might be in a dress or something, you never know. We may do Halloween tune by one of fave horror bands from '80s. With us, you just never know.

What's the best costume you had as a kid?

Oh, we used to make them! I did Eddie [the Head], the Iron Maiden mascot. And I dressed my brother as the Crimson Ghost of the Misfits. I was probably 13, and my brother was about 9.